David tried to explain the chanting can be off-putting to some folks, so he dropped it. He wanted to make yoga accessible to more people.

Well, the woman got more and more agitated (sounds like she needed some yoga). Her outrage for keeping the traditions of yoga alive kept escalating.

That’s when David dropped a truth bomb…

He said something like, “If we’re going to keep the tradition of yoga alive, I must ask all the women in the room to leave. Because yoga used to be for men only.”

Silence filled the auditorium.

“Also,” David said something like, “I will choose only one of you guys (men) to work with for the rest of the workshop. Because, traditionally, yoga was taught by word of mouth from teacher to student. So the rest of you will have to leave.”

That pretty much put an end to the “traditional yoga” debate.

David smoothed all the ruffled feathers. Tempers cooled. And we all (men and women) went on to have a great day filled with great yoga in the most non-traditional way.

Keep It Real

Yoga, as we know it, has been around for about 100 years.

We’re talking about Hatha yoga or physical yoga.

Here’s a simplified version of modern yoga’s history…

T. Krishnamacharya (1888-1989) was a well-known teacher in India. He had a reputation for drawing upon Indian medicine and yoga to care for and heal people.

In 1926, the Maharaja of Mysore hired Krishnamacharya to teach yoga in the palace of Mysore.

One source said Krishnamacharya gained access to a physical fitness training manual. The book contained exercises for gymnasts and wrestlers.

And guess what? They were of European origin.

It didn’t matter. Krishnamacharya saw the conditioning benefits and added them to his yoga practice.

He broke tradition. He modified what he knew with techniques he believed would benefit his students.

Krishnamacharya broke another tradition by teaching a woman hatha yoga.

Indra Devi was his first female student and she was tenacious. Krishnamacharya refused to teach her his yoga methods. But she persisted and he eventually took her in as a student.

You see, even “The Father of Modern Yoga” didn’t do things in a traditional manner.

Neither do we.

At Winter Garden Yoga, we take the most fundamental yoga poses and teach them in a safe way. With the method of Functional Yoga Instruction, you’ll get a lot of benefit without a lot of risk.

The Least You Need To Know

— Be careful when you hear things like, “we teach real yoga” or “we teach traditional yoga.” There is no such thing these days.

— “Traditional Yoga” doesn’t have anything to do with room temperature. Nor does it have anything to do with a specific style of Hatha yoga.